Nirvana...I never thought I'd get there

The other night I came to Nirvana Restaurant for some cheap eats. This restaurant (located at College and Bathurst) is great for cheap food, good drinks and cool atmosphere. It was sangria Sunday when we went ($13.95 pitchers of sangria...this is quite the steal). We ordered white wine sangria and enjoyed every sip!

In terms of food, everything on Nirvana’s menu is under 10 bucks. They definitely serve generous portions for the price they are charging. I ordered the Pad Thai. It was good. Not the best Pad Thai I’ve had, but for 8 bucks it was pretty darn good.

My friends ordered salads and fried tofu. I loved the sauce for the tofu; it was perfectly spicy without being too overbearing.

The service at Nirvanas was pretty disappointing. Our waitress was very inattentive and had to come back a couple times to re ask us what we ordered.

Aside from the not so great service, we all enjoyed the drink and eats here. Nirvana is definitely a laid back kinda place. It always has good tunes playing and is grungy and relaxing. 

I would recommend coming here if you don’t want to spend too much moola on a dinner out, and are looking to get a buzz for a bargain!

Happy Eating!

Love This

Late Night Chinese Feast :)

After one long and uncomfortable train ride back to Toronto, my friend and I decided to order in some late night Chinese!  We chose New Ho King, firstly because the prices were reasonable, and they delivered until 4 am!  The meal was just what we needed! We ordered the Soo Guy chicken, BBQ pork Lo Mein, Vegetable Chop Suey, Chicken fried rice, and Egg rolls; We were clearly feeling gluttonous. The food was exactly how Canadianized Chinese food always is: greasy and tasty.  Both of us enjoyed this meal! 

If you want to order chinese food from this joint here is the website: 

http://www.newho-king.ca/

Happy Eating!

Homemade Veal Piccata

Ingredients: 

1 pound Veal Scaloppini pounded

5 cloves garlic

4 shallots

Flour

1 tbsp. Olive Oil

Handful of Fresh Italian Parsley

Juice of 1 Lemon

Handful of Capers

1 Cup White Wine

2 Tbsp. Cream

1 tsp. flour

Add olive oil to pan.  Dredge the veal scallops in flour, and then add them to the hot pan. Cook for a minute on both sides, and then remove the veal from pan.

Once veal is removed from pan, add in capers shallots and garlic. Let this cook for a couple minutes. Deglaze the pan with white wine. 

Squeeze in the lemon. Add cream, flour and parsley to the pan.  

Add the veal back to the pan. Let this sit in pan and soak in the flavors.

Finished delicious product:

Happy Eating!

Best Pho Soups in the City (According to Moi!)

I love pho soup. In my opinion it is the perfect Vietnamese bowl of comfort. The flavorful broth, the rice noodles, the beef make for the perfect soothing dish.

Pho is one of my ‘go to’ meals if I’m craving good food for cheap. I have eaten a lot of pho’s around the city and some places just undeniably do it right.  

So here’s a list of the top 5 places that I believe offer the BEST pho in the city: 

1)PHO TIEN TANH

Located on Ossington Street, this place serves up a truly scrumptious bowl of soup. It is always packed, the service is fast and the pho comes just as you like it and the prices are great!
Side note: Susur Lee apparently loves the pho here too! That’s gotta count for something!

2)   GOLDEN TURTLE

The Golden Turtle is literally down the street from Pho Tien Tanh and offers a delicious pho.  Also recommended by Susur, Golden Turtle is usually filled with people all coming for the same thing: the great pho.

3)   PHO HUNG

 I’ve reviewed this restaurant on my blog already, but it has to be included with the best pho’s in the city. Located on Spadina Street, in the heart of Chinatown, Pho Hung offers many excellent Vietnemese dishes but the soups steal the show for me. 

4)PHO PHUONG

 Pho Phuang is located near Dundas and Dufferin St. Compared to the other Vietnamese restaurants listed above, this restaurant has a much nicer interior and better ambiance. Their pho is lovely and well priced. Try it!

Happy Eating!

Snakes and Lattes

I love this place! Snakes and Lattes is a fun café/restaurant that offers thousands of games to play while enjoying snacks and drinks. They have your typical coffee shop type stuff, as well as alcoholic beverages, some hot dishes and sandwiches.  When I was there I had a glass of wine, some veggie crisps and a lollipop.

Snakes and Lattes is definitely more a place you come to for the cool experience rather than for the food. My friend and I spent the afternoon here, and played endless amount of games and it was such an enjoyable time!

I HIGHLY recommend visiting this place. I guarantee you will have fun! 

Happy Eating!

Nacho Extravaganza!

Buffalo Chicken Nachos from the Loose Moose Restaurant are some of the best Nachos Ive had in the city!
Go try these tonight! 

Happy Eating!

My Top 5 'Go To' Pizza Places!

1) QUEEN MARGHERITA

 

This is my favourite pizza place in Toronto. It is like a thin crust, wood oven heaven.
You can’t go wrong with any of the pizzas on the menu. The lunch special is well priced at 20 dollars for an appetizer, whole pizza (from a variety of types) and dessert. Not only are the pizza’s mouthwatering, but the quality of ingredients with the non-pizza items are equally delicious.
Go get a pizza here... right now.

http://www.queenmargheritapizza.ca

2) PIZZA LIBRETTO 

A very close second for me, Pizza libretto serves up some delicious wood oven fresh pizza. Their lunch special is a little cheaper than Queen Margherita. 15 dollars gets you the same deal: appi, pizza and dessert…EXCEPT …the selection of pizza types is limited to 2 basic varieties for this price. Regardless, the pizza taste is amazing, and I have yet to be disappointed.

Side note: their Beef Carpaccio and Beet salad are excellent as well!

http://pizzerialibretto.com/ 

3)  PIZZA GIGI’S

Okay, I know this place has gotten some hype about the recent drug busts and some illegal stuff that goes on…but for delivery/take out pizza, this is definitely my go to place.  They have a large selection of traditional toppings, and gourmet toppings. The crust is perfectly doughy and the flavors are always spot on!
If you’re sitting at home on a Sunday night, and want food brought right to your door…you should try Pizza Gigi’s. 

http://www.pizzagigi.ca/en/

4) TERRONI RESTAURANT 

Terroni’s restaurant is delish! They serve excellent Italian food…and they do a great pizza. The pizza is thin crust, and very light. They use fresh high quality ingredients, and every bite seems to be tastier than the last!

www.terroni.com

5) IL GATTO NERO

I love the pizza at Il Gatto Nero. They offer a wide variety of pizza pies to choose from. My personal favourite is the Quatro Stagioni. This pizza is divided into 4 sections with different items on each section; artichokes, mushrooms, olives  and prosciutto.

http://www.ilgattonero.ca/

If you are craving a mouth watering pizza and haven’t tried any of the above restaurants… then get up and go to one of them… right now. You won’t be disappointed!

Happy Eating!

The Drake Hotel for Brunch

What better way to spend a Saturday morning than having a delicious brunch in one of the most eclectic restaurant/bars in Toronto? The Drake Hotel is a popular spot in the west end and offers many different menus for different hours of the day. I came for an early brunch as I heard they do excellent eggs benedict. This dish came with a wedge of fresh grapefruit, crispy French fries and of course a perfectly poached egg covered in hollandaise sauce. 

The flavor of this benny was enjoyable. The hollandaise tasted a little unique compared to others I’ve had, it was very lemony. Overall, I found the meal to be very rich but tasty! 

Aside from the food, the interior of this restaurant is diverse and visually appealing. It is definitely an artsy/creative vibe. Service was lovely and made the experience just that much more enjoyable.

I have come to The Drake many times for drinks and the nightlife, but this brunch was my first dining experience here.  It was great, and I am excited to return and try their other menu offerings!

Happy Eating!   

Walnut Cake? Sure Why Not!

My friend and I stumbled upon an interesting Korean bakery shop: Hodo Kwaja. This sweet shop has a small menu of desserts which include filled pancakes and walnut cakes. Both were new to us, so we decided to try an assortment of walnut cakes and a brown sugar filled pancake. 

There were three different/interesting fillings in the walnut cakes. The first was mashed potato and red bean. The Second was mashed potato and almond, and the third was mashed potato and walnut.

My favourite of these three was definitely the mashed potato and red bean. These cakes are not extremely sweet and have a chewy texture. 

I preferred the brown sugar filled pancake to the walnut cakes. This pancake, although a little messy, was nice and sweet. The melted brown sugar just oozed out with every bite. 

We washed these desserts down with coffees and it was a nice afternoon treat! 

If you're wanting to try something new, and haven't had these korean treats, check this place out! 

Hodo Kwaja

656 Bloor St W
Toronto, ON M6G 1K9

Happy Eating!

Homemade Mushroom Risotto

Ingredients:

1 cup Dried Mushrooms (mixture of porcini and shitake. These need to sit in a bowl of hot water to reconstitute them)

½ cup Fresh Button Mushrooms

½ cup white wine

3 tbsp. Brandy

1 ½ cup Arborio Rice

1 tbsp. Butter

1 tbsp. Olive Oil

Chicken Stock

Handful of Fresh Italian Parsley

Parmesan Cheese

1 Kenny G cd, greatest hits, playing in the background of your cooking. :)

Reconstitute the dried mushrooms by letting them sit in warm water.

Start by adding butter and olive oil to the pan. Stir in the onions and let them soften. Then add the reconstituted mushrooms and fresh mushrooms to the pan. Let this cook for a couple minutes. 

Next add in the uncooked Arborio rice. Stir in the brandy and white wine. Let this cook for about 5-10 minutes.

Add in the chicken stock in small portions; just enough to cover the rice. Then stir constantly and let the rice absorb the stock. When this happens, add more chicken stock and repeat this until the rice is cooked.

Add some parsley and parmesan cheese for garnish and VOILA! You have yourself a beautiful mushroom risotto!

Happy Eating!

Buk Chang Dong

The other night I was craving a soothing bowl of kimchi soup. I decided to try out some place new, and boy was that a great decision. I ended up at Buk Chang Dong, a busy Korean restaurant in Little Korea town (Bloor and Clinton St). My first impression of this restaurant was that it seemed authentic and it was packed with people (always a good sign). Walking in you can smell the beautiful aromas of piping hot Korean cuisine. My friends and I all ordered the same Kimchi Soup, which was loaded with spicy flavor. The soup also came with a pot of rice on the side (to be added to the soups), and of course the many customary side dishes that accompany Korean meals.
The service was great and the food was truly fantastic. Each spoonful really hit the spot and left me wanting more! 

The restaurant doesn’t look like much from the outside, but don’t judge a book by its cover, because you will be pleasantly surprised with the quality of food at this place!
I suggest you try it!

Happy Eating!

An Excellent Sushi Restaurant Discovery

My dad and I went for lunch today and decided to try out a new restaurant to both of us: Mi-Ne Japanese Restaurant. WHAT A FIND!! This place is really fantastic; so much so that it has been merely a half hour since I was there and I’m already anxious to write about its deliciousness. 
First off, let me tell you about the interior of Mi-Ne. It is a small restaurant, probably seats about 20 people. There are cute booths along the side with drapes that hang low to allow diners a sense of privacy and comfort. The service was great! Our waitress was extremely friendly and attentive throughout the entire lunch; always making sure our drinks were filled and we were satisfied with the food.

Now ….let me stop diddle dadling here and get to the good stuff: the food!!

We ordered 2 lunch specials (1 – dynamite roll and California roll and 2 – spicy tuna roll and spicy salmon roll). These specials came with miso soup and salad. We also ordered a Wakame (seaweed) salad to share.

   

I really enjoyed every single thing put in front of us. Throughout the entire lunch my dad and I both conversed about tasty everything was!

The dynamite roll was larger than most I’ve seen and along with the typical fried shrimp, this dynamite also had salmon, which put its flavor over the edge!
The spicy tuna roll and spicy salmon roll were heaven.

The place filled up very fast and by the time we left, there was, understandably, a line up out the door of more eager eaters!

I suggest you give this place a try!

Happy Eating!

http://toronto.mine-sushi.com/

Current Crave

The wacky watermelon juice from Jugo Juice is what I have been craving as of late. I tried it a while a go and have been hooked ever since! The sweet watermelon combined with mango and tropical nectar makes for the MOST refreshing drink.  I find myself grabbing one of these a couple times a week, and it never fails to quench my thirst in the tastiest way possible!

If watermelon isn’t your thing, Jugo Juice offers a variety of yummy and healthy drinks and also some snacks/wraps.
check it out:

http://www.jugojuice.com

Happy Eating!

Hey! You! Fat Head!

So I was browsing the Netflix documentaries and came across this particular movie called ‘Fat Head’. I read the synopsis and it sounded interesting so I watched it.
In the first 15 minutes I was kind of thinking to myself: huh? This is bullshit.

But by the end of it, the movie actually really made me think and reevaluate my perception on the truth behind food.

I’m sure many of you have seen the notorious ‘Supersize Me’ documentary. Well this flick pretty much disputes the notions put forth in Supersize Me and backs it up with some medical research.
Anyway, here’s the trailer. It’s an interesting watch.

Happy Eating!

Cafe Pamenar

So I’m sitting in my favorite café (Café Pamenar) in Kensington Market right now, food blogging, and realized…I haven’t talked about THIS café yet!

Café Pamenar is the place I come to chill, have a coffee and get work done. I love the atmosphere. There is always good tunes playing, the baristas are friendly, and the décor is simple yet inviting. It is located in the heart of Kensington Market, which is one of my preferred places to be, especially when the weathers right.

I usually order the French Press or the Americano (both satisfy my coffee cravings and taste wonderful!)
I don’t have my camera on me to take a picture of their dessert/sweets selection, but here’s a picture of me (taken avec laptop), exhibiting how happy I am to be at Café Pamenar, enjoying my Americano. :)

You should definitely check this gem out!

http://cafepamenar.ca/


Happy Eating!